Barrel



Patented Mar. 26, 1940 uNiTEo STATES PATENT OFFICE BARREL James Walter Brown, Hammond, Ind., assignor to E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Wilmington, Dcl., a corporation of Delaware N Drawing. Application January 25, 1937,

Serial No. 122,117

1 Claim. (01. 217-91) This'invention relates to improvements in the off, of the hoops onto the staves when the barmanufacture of barrels and is particularly direls are assembled, causing objectionable discolrooted to processes for making wooden barrels oration. This discoloration of the stave-s is in- With iron or steel wire hoops wherein said hoops creased if the hoops are loosened and redriven.

5 are rendered resistant to slipping and to rusting These disadvantages resulting from the use of 5 by treatment with phosphoric acid. rusty hoops are all considered seriously objec- A wooden barrel is prevented from falling to tionable by the users of the barrels. pieces only by the positions of its parts relative After a barrel has been assembled, the hoops to each other. In assembling a barrel noauxilmay be held in place by staples or nails. Howiary reinforcing means is ordinarily employed, ever, nailing or stapling the hoops into place each par t,,by virtue of its individual location, bewhile the barrel is being assembled, as, for in ing relied upon to hold the other parts in their stance, while the barrel is in a driving and tressproper places. Movement of any of the parts ing machine, is neither convenient nor feasible. therefore may cause the barrel to collapse dur- Momentarily at least, friction between the hoops 5 ing the assembling operation. It is particularly and staves must be relied upon to hold the hoops important that the hoops maintain their proper in the position to which they have been driven, relative locations. and slipping at this stage of the manufacture In the construction of an ordinary wooden of barrels has heretofore been avoided only by barrel the friction between the hoops and the the use of rusty hoops.

0 staves is relied upon to hold the hoops in place. I have found that the assembling of barrels The smooth, curving sides of a barrel present a having iron or steel wire hoops may be greatly surface upon which. it is very difficult for the facilitated and the disadvantages and inconvenhoops to secure a satisfactory grip. The hoops iences of slipping hoops may be avoided by using tend to slip away from the bulging section of the hoops which have been subjected to the action of barrel toward a section of lesser diameter. Slipphosphoric acid. Treatment with phosphoric 25 ping of the hoops in this manner constitutes a acid imparts to the hoops a surface which is serious problem in the manufacture of barrels. ideally adapted to grip the sides of the barrel. This difiiculty is most frequently encountered Hoops prepared in this manner before placing on when the. friction between the hoops and staves a barrel not only retain their proper positions is small, as when smooth, new wire hoops are on the barrel, but they also possess the further 3 used. advantage of being resistant to rusting. When Barrel-makers have heretofore resorted to the a barrel is assembled following the processes of practice of deliberately allowing hoops to rust my invention, therefore, the advantages heretoin order to provide a surface better adapted tofore attainable only with rusty hoops are secured grip the smooth. sides of a barrel. Such practices I and at the same time the disadvantages of rusty 35 as sprinkling new hoops with salt water or damp hoops are avoided. ashes have been employed to accelerate rusting. When driven into place on a barrel, hoops By such means the friction betweenfithe hoops whose surfaces have been treated with phosand staves is increased and barrels of greater phoric acid are able toobtain a firm grip on the 40 strength and rigidity are obtained. When rusty curving sides of the barrel. Slipping is elim- 40 hoops are driven into place, as for instancein inated. Assembling of the barrel is greatly simassembling a barrel on a driving and tressing plified, especially when the barrel is. assembled machine, the difficulties associated with slipping by machine.

are avoided. Iron and steel hoops which have been treated A. barrel put together with rusty hoops, of with phosphoric acid posses the further advan- 45 1 course, presents an unattractive appearance. tage that they are resistant to rust. Barrels made The hoops continue to rust, particularly if the with such hoops therefore retain their more atinitial rusting was accelerated by sprinkling tractive appearance even after considerable exwith salt or ashes. It is not feasible to paint posure to air, moisture, and other corrosive inwire hoops after they have: been. set in place on fluences. Painting of phosphoric acid-treated 50 the barrel. and thus cover over any rusty coating. I hoops is, of course, entirely unnecessary. Hence the unsightly appearance of such rusty There is, moreover, no rusty discoloration of hoops has hitherto been unavoidable. .Moreo-ver, the barrel staves at the point of contact with the practice of using rusty hoops is accompanied such treated hoops. The hoops may be removed by the further disadvantage that rust is rubbed and redriven as often as desired without detri- 55 a considerable preference over a rusty-hooped barrel, particularly where the barrel is to be seen by the consumer of its contents.

In the following example a particular application of the processes of my invention is shown for the purpose of illustration. It will be understood that the advantages of my invention may be obtained despite considerable variation from the particular conditions described'in this example.

The following example shows the application of a process of my invention to the manufacture of slack barrels:

Example Several thousand bright basic iron wire hoops were immersed in a 25% solution of orthophos phoric acid at about 20 C. for about one hour. They were then removed and dried. Barrels were then assembled on a tressing and driving machine, using flat steel hoops as rims and the treated iron wire hoops midway between the bulge and either end of each barrell When once driven into place, the wire hoops remained without slipping. After each barrel was assembled the fiat hoops were nailed into place to serve as rims. The finished barrels were strong and rigid and showed no tendency to loosen up when removed from the assembling machine. The appearance of the treated hoops showed no appreciable change from the soft gray coating imparted by the phosphoric acid treatment, even after the barrels had been submitted to an extended period of storage and use.

Other slack barrels were made up in a manner similar to that described above except that the bright iron wire hoops were not treated before use. Difiiculty was encountered in keeping the hoops in place while the barrels were being assembled because the smooth wire was unable to obtain a satisfactory grip on the staves. When these barrels were subjected to storage and use the bright, untreated hoops started to rust almost immediately and the coating of rust which eventually developed was so heavy that when the hoops were loosened and redriven rust was rubbed into the staves causing objectionable rust marks.- The rusty hoops also gave the barrels an unsightly appearance.

In assembling any container comprising a plurality of wooden staves held in assembled relation by iron or steel wire hoops, advantages may be derived from the application of a process of my invention. Such containers as kegs andcasks, with rounded, bulging sides, may advantageously be assembled using phosphoric acid-treated hoops. A more common application of my invention is, of course, in the manufacture of barrels as shown in the above example.

The manner of treating barrel hoops with phosphoric' acid according to the processes of my invention is not limited to any particular conditions of time, temperature, and concentration. The conditions used must be such that the hoops are appreciably attacked by the acid. Ordinarily, this attack proceeds more rapidly at elevated temperatures and higher concentrations, but ordinary temperatures and low concentrations may be used if a longer time is allowed. I prefer to use asolution containing from about 10m 25% of phosphoric acid at temperatures from about 20 to 100 C. The hoops are retained in the acid long enough to be uniformly attacked by the acid over their entire surface. I

It is not essential to wash the hoops after re.- moving them from the phosphoric acid, since any residual acid will react with the iron or steel to provide an adherent rust-resistant coating of insoluble iron phosphate. Drying of the hoops is likewise not essential. The handling of the treated hoops is facilitated, however, by drying them as shown in the above example.

Various expedients may be adopted in treating barrel hoops with phosphoric acid in order" to facilitate rapid, economical handling. of the hoops. For instance, dirty or greasy hoops may be subjected to an alkaline wash before immerse ing in the phosphoric acid.

I claim:

A barrel comprising a plurality of wooden staves held in assembled relation by phosphoric acid-treated, slip-resistant, ferrous metal hoops having the characteristic etched, roughened, and rust-resistant surface obtained by immersion of a ferrous metal in phosphoric acid.

' JAMES WALTER BROWN. 

